While there are a variety of important things to see and do in ARK: Survival Evolved, learning how to tame bees and harvest honey is one that you should definitely try out. Most of the time, you want to tame an animal in ARK: Survival Evolved so that you can eventually ride it around. However, taming smaller, less rideable creatures can benefit your long-term survival plans as well. Case in point... the bee.
Taming your own colony of bees can provide you with a near limitless supply of honey (a resource which can be used in a variety of ways). In this guide, we’ll show you how to tame bees and harvest honey in ARK: Survival Evolved.
How to Tame Bees in ARK - Preparation
Considering how small they are, the process you have to undertake to find and tame your own swarm of bees in ARK: Survival Evolved is surprisingly complex. Before you even set out in search of bees to tame, you’ll want to make sure you have all of the following:
- Bug Repellant
- A decent long-range weapon
- A dependable mount (preferably a flying mount as they tend to be faster and can naturally avoid dangerous terrain)
- Some extra armor Rare Flowers (to help with the taming process)
- A friend or two to watch your back if you’re on a PvP server
Once you have all of the above, it’s time to head out and find some bees.
How to Tame Bees in ARK - Handling the Swarm
After you’ve properly prepared, the first thing you’re going want to do is travel over to the Redwood Forest region in ARK: Survival Evolved. There, large beehives can be found attached to the massive trees in the forest. In order to tame bees, you’re going to need to destroy one of these beehives.
This is where your long-range weapon will come in handy as drone bees will come after you once you begin attacking their hive, and they can inflict a nasty slowing poison on you that can quickly spell your demise if a more powerful predator happens to wander by.
Once the hive is finally destroyed, a queen bee will spawn up above and slowly float down towards you. Quickly activate your bug repellent, get in close to the queen bee, and feed her the rare flowers so that she becomes tamed.
How to Harvest Honey in ARK - Queen Bee
Once you’ve successfully tamed a queen bee in ARK: Survival Evolved, you can automatically convert her into a placeable beehive by picking her up. Now all you have to do is head back to your base, find a suitable spot for the bee hive, and place it down.
The hive needs to be fed some rare flowers before it will start producing honey, and if the hive ever dies, it will automatically convert back into a queen bee which you can just pick up and place again as a new hive.
The honey you garner from your hive can be used in various crafting recipes, as a lure that can distract hostile creatures, and even as a component for taming more dangerous beasts like the dire bear.
In short, going through the process of getting your own bee hive is well worth the hassle, especially if you have teammates who would also benefit from the many uses honey has in Ark: Survival Evolved.
By reading through this guide, you should now know how to tame bees and harvest honey in ARK: Survival Evolved.